Pride
by Nessa Luinwe
Summary: Balthier/Fran oneshot, hopefully funny. Balthier has some misfortune whilst on a mission, but why is he so reluctant to let Fran know what it is?


**Just a quick little oneshot; I don't normally do oneshots but I had the idea for this and couldn't think how to turn it into a story, so here it is. Hope you like it, I haven't written for FF before so be kind! It is, of course, about the oh-so-wonderful couple that is Balthier and Fran.**

**Author's disclaimer: I don't own FFXII or any of the Final Fantasy games for that matter, nor do I own their characters. Obviously.**

Fran tapped her long fingers on the control panel of the Strahl impatiently. She hated sitting around doing nothing. Every inch of her body longed to be outside; fighting, scheming, anything except waiting.

A few days before she had been on a heist with Balthier that had ended up in her getting a broken elbow. Fran had been ready to shrug it off as a minor annoyance that would heal itself given time, but Balthier had demanded she remain on the Strahl and rest while he went out and brought the money in. Many times since then she had protested, insisting that she could still fight with just the one good arm, but there was no way Balthier would listen to her. She'd even tried to escape when she thought he was asleep, but just as she got to the door, and before she even knew it, the sky pirate would leap to his feet and cut off her exit, sternly commanding her to return to bed. Fran had no idea how he'd managed to fool her. Her Viera senses would pick up the smallest signs from any other Hume that would tell her whether they were truly asleep or not, but Balthier had a way of tricking her that she could never figure out.

Either way, she was tired of resting.

Balthier was out again, tracking down a lead. It was only something small, the theft of a little jewel that would fetch a nice sum of money, but not exactly a fortune. They had both agreed it was too risky for Balthier to go after anything big at the moment: Balthier because he knew he'd struggle to pull it off without Fran, and Fran because she had hoped he would get bored and let her off the Strahl again so they could go after the bigger bounties. But so far, she'd had no luck. The exit door of the Strahl had been securely locked and Balthier had taken both his and Fran's keys, leaving her safely imprisoned in the ship until he returned.

She was just about to try barging the door down as best she could without causing her arm a great deal of pain for the sixth time when the door flew open and Balthier came through, closing it behind him again. Fran turned her chair to face him and his eyes met hers.

"You took your time," Fran stated.

"I ran into some trouble." Balthier replied a little sharply. He brought a wrist up in a flick, and Fran raised her good arm, catching the jewel that flew across the room to her. She turned it over in her hand, glancing at it briefly before looking back to Balthier. He had removed his armour and crossed over to the second chair. Fran watched as he flexed the fingers of his hand, rubbing his arm. As he moved a leg to get more comfortable on his seat, his knee banged the table and he winced, cursing wildly.

Fran raised an eyebrow, placing the jewel on the seat next to her. "Did everything progress according to your plans?"

He didn't look at her. "Eventually."

"What was the trouble you encountered?"

"It was nothing I couldn't handle," he answered evasively. Fran could tell something had happened, but he didn't seem at all willing to tell her. Of course, this only made her more determined to find out what it was.

"What bothers you, Balthier?"

"Nothing at all, my dear lady." His words were gentle but his tone was slightly too sharp for her liking. Something was troubling him all right.

"I am not a fool, sky pirate. What is it?"

"I assure you Fran, I am perfectly fine. Can we leave this conversation alone now and enjoy spending that pretty little jewel that took me so long to get yet disappeared from your thoughts so quickly?" He stood and began to stalk towards the door of the control room.

Fran raised an eyebrow. "It would give me great pleasure to enjoy spending your little treasure."

"I'm so glad to hear it."

She moved to stand in front of him. "As soon as you tell me what is concerning you."

"Nothing."

"Balthier—"

"I fell out of a tree!"

Silence fell in the control room as Fran stared at him in bewilderment. Her surprise slowly turned to amusement as a smile spread across her face. Balthier was glaring at her.

"It's not funny."

The mixed look of frustration and wounded pride on Balthier's face proved too much for her, and suddenly she laughed, dissolving into giggles like a young girl rather than the Viera of many years that she was.

"Fran… stop it," Balthier demanded, watching as she regarded him solemnly, trying her hardest to contain herself before giving in and laughing helplessly again.

Balthier threw up his hands in exasperation and stomped through the doorway of the control room, muttering retorts and grumbling under his breath. Fran managed to keep her giggling to a minimum and grabbed his arm as he walked past her, turning him round to face her.

Still smiling, she shook her head. "Such pride you have, sky pirate."

"It comes in handy sometimes," he mumbled, still annoyed that he'd had to admit his little accident.

Fran raised a hand to his face gently. "There is no shame in falling out of a tree every now and then in one's life."

"There is if you're the leading man," he retorted, but his heart was no longer in it as Fran cut him off with a swift and soft kiss.

Later on—much later on—he had realised that that was the thing when he was with Fran—she could know the worst things about him and it didn't matter. With her, he was the leading man, and she was his leading lady. No dark or deep secrets could pull what they had apart.


End file.
